1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to sink cleaning and stoppering devices, and more particularly to an improved, single device that effectively scrapes garbage from a sink surface, pushes it into a garbage disposal, and stops the drain.
2. Description of Related Art
Over the past several decades, the installation and use of garbage disposal devices has dramatically risen. While these devices provide numerous advantages not attainable by standard sink and drain configurations, they also present numerous additional problems. Most notably, small items such as silverware frequently inadvertently fall into the comminuting chamber of the disposal. If such items are not retrieved before the disposal is activated, the blades of the disposal may be damaged or destroyed. Thus, invention and use of stoppering devices designed to block the entrance to the garbage disposal are known to the public, as such devices prevent items from inadvertently falling into the disposal. Another significant problem associated with use of garbage disposal devices is that all garbage in the sink must be manually pushed across the sink's surface to the garbage disposal entrance. This forces the user to either dirty their hands to complete the task or else use an item, such as silverware, to scrape the garbage across the sink surface. However, the use of such items may scrape or damage the sink's surface. Thus, invention and use of specialized garbage scooping devices are known to the public, as such devices are used to gather garbage scattered across the sink's surface into a single pile. Yet another problem is incurred in trying to push garbage through the protective rubber fingers that frequently block the entrance to the comminuting chamber. Again, knives, forks and the like are often used to complete this task despite the fact that they may fall into the chamber and potentially damage the disposal. For a user to effectively eliminate all of these problems, a stopping, a scooping and a stuffing device are all necessary items. However, it is often inconvenient to store three separate items in the small area surrounding a sink. Thus, there is a clear need for an improved single device that is capable of scraping garbage from a sink surface, stuffing the garbage into the disposal and stoppering the disposal entrance.
Shands U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,642 teaches a sink stopper having a stopper flange body, handle and lower protruding element for pushing refuse into the garbage disposal comminuting chamber. Felici U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,578 also discloses a device for corralling refuse in a sink and forcing it through the drain opening into the garbage disposal. This device employs a bellows to bias a pushing element as it is forced into the opening of the comminuting chamber.
While both Shands and Felici are useful in pushing debris across the sink surface, neither of them are capable of effectively scraping garbage off the sink surface and stuffing it through the protective fingers and into the garbage disposal.
Loos U.S. 4,504,996 and Ness U.S. 4,409,692 are similar in design to Shands, these two devices including a scraper member rather than a push element. However, these devices also cannot be used to force the rubber fingers downwardly to discharge garbage into the comminuting chamber.
Lindley U.S. 4,268,080 discloses a manual tool used to push debris across the sink surface toward the disposal and then stuff the debris into the disposal. The device has a shape that prevents it from being inserted too far into the grinder disposal. Seifert U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,636 teaches a hand tool having scraper elements and a blunt end for pushing debris. However, as disclosed, both of these devices are intended only to feed refuse into the garbage disposal, and cannot be utilized to stop the drain and prevent silverware and other such items from inadvertently falling into the disposal. The present invention fulfills all three of these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.